TRUTH AND LOVE PUBLISHING MINISTRY
Are believers indwelt by the trinity -- God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit?
Just last month, was the first time I heard from a Godly Christian, a bible scholar, who knows the truth, that believers are indwelt by the trinity- God the father, God the son, and God the holy spirit. I was amazed to hear that, as believers, we are indwelt by the trinity of God. I was very happy to know that. But since this was the first time I heard this matter, after I was born again 24 years ago, I decided to search the bible to satisfy myself.
Before Jesus death and resurrection, He said to the disciples in John 14:2-" I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than this, because I am going to the father." Then in John 14:15 He said -"If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you FOREVER-THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, He lives with you and will be in you." The non believers cannot accept the Holy Spirit because they do not see Him and they do not know Him. Only believers know Him because He lives with them. The Holy Spirit is called the Counselor or Helper, as also in (John 14:26;15:26;16:7). Christ teaches that the Holy Spirit (1) will indwell every believer FOREVER (John 14:16-17); (2) will help the disciples recall the events of Christ life (John 14:26) ; (3) will convince the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:7-11) ; (4) will teach believers the truth (John 15:26; 16:13-15).
Then in John (16:7-15) Jesus said to the disciples-" But I tell you the truth: it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go I will sent Him to you, ....I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth, He will not speak of His own; He will speak only what He hears and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it know to you. "
NOTICE THE SEVEN STEPS THAT ARE HERE:
(1) The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth has come.
(2) The Holy Spirit will guide all believers into all truth.
(3) The Holy Spirit will not speak of His own.
(4) The Holy Spirit speaks only what He hears.
(5) The Holy Spirit will tell believers what is yet to come.
(6) The Holy Spirit will bring GLORY TO CHRIST.
(7) The Holy Spirit brings glory to Christ by taking from Him, His teachings and whatever relates to Him.
When we listened to a preacher saying, " We are having a Holy Spirit revival; The Holy Spirit is working ; the Holy Spirit is doing this and that. " The minute he said all those things, we know that the Holy Spirit was not working. Why? Because the Lord made it clear that the Holy Spirit will not speak of Himself. Then how can we tell when the Holy Spirit is working? HE WILL GLORIFY CHRIST.
Jesus Christ was sent into the world to glorify the Father. All He did, was a total obedience to the Father even to the death of the cross. Every word He said came from the Father. In His death, Christ and the Father were glorified(John 13:31). In the resurrection and exaltation the Father glorified Christ and validated all His claims (John 13:32). And the Holy Spirit was sent to glorify Christ (John 16:14-15). Even as Christ was glorifying the Father by His obedience unto death, so the Spirit will glorify Christ by making clear the significance of His person and work. The Spirit's teaching mission would be first to receive the deposit of Christ-Centered Truth, then show it to believers. It follows that a ministry, to be Spirit- Directed, must be one that magnifies Christ. Since the things of Christ include the truths concerning the Father and His Counsels, when the Spirit communicates the things of Christ, He communicates the whole truth.
John 3:13 says-"No man has ever gone into Heaven except the one who came from Heaven-the Son of Man." After Jesus death and resurrection, He walked on this earth for 40 days and showed Himself to the disciples on different occasions and also appeared to 500 people at one time to affirm His resurrection. Ten days after His ascension, the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost, the birthday of the church. It came 50 days after the first fruits. (A type of the resurrection of Christ, (1 Cor. 15:23). Pentecost was the Greek name for the Jewish feast of weeks, so called because it fell seven (A week of) weeks after first fruits. It celebrated the wheat harvest (Ex. 23:16). This day of Pentecost in Acts 2 marked the beginning of the church (Matt. 16:18 ). By this time, Christ is now sitting at the right hand of God the Father as our mediator between God and man. In (1 Tim. 2:5) -"The Lord says to my Lord: sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet' (Psalm 110:1). Then when Jesus was talking to high priest He said "-----But I say to all of you: In the future you see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the mighty one and coming on the clouds of Heaven. " (Matt. 26:64)
This was my position of understanding the work of the Holy Spirit before I heard from a Godly, bible scholar that believers are indwelt by the trinity of God. Amazingly , a week after I heard this, I also heard that a bible teacher was telling the same thing. So I asked her if she was conscious of saying that believers are indwelt by the trinity of God. I even repeated the question twice. She said, "yes I was conscious." I told her that I was a Christian for 24 years but this is the first time I heard this.
When I came home that day I started praying to God, asking Him to help Him know and understand this revealed truth. Then the Holy Spirit directed me to read (John 14:23) that says"-If anyone loves me, He will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and WE WILL COME TO HIM AND MAKE OUR HOME WITH HIM."
"WILL MAKE OUR HOME WITH HIM"--Observe that the Son feels free to commit the Father to a certain course of action, another clear indication of Deity. Also, as mention before, Christ said in John 16:15-" All that belongs to the Father is mine". Then in ( Rom. 8:9-10) says"---- If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. "If anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. Those who belong to Christ do have the Holy Spirit. The fact that the Spirit is called the Spirit of God and then the Spirit of Christ shows that the Father and the Son are related to the Spirit in the same way.
The love of the apostles to Jesus Christ and their obedience to His teaching marked the indwelling of the trinity to all of them while they were all together in one place during Pentecost (Acts 2). They were all indwelt by the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-17); And God the Father and God the Son made their home with them (John 14:23). The apostles then became the witness to the world that if any one who loves Christ and obey His teaching or command, the trinity of God will indwell them.
Written by Osmundo Sabado
Edited by Orman Sabado